


The Weaponsmaster's Heart

by GrumpyJenn



Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Expanded Scene, F/M, Ficlet, Friends to Lovers, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The weapons master has no heart; his hide is iron cold<br/>His soul within that hide is steel or so I have been told</i>
</p><p>~"The Face Within"<br/>~Mercedes Lackey</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Weaponsmaster's Heart

Kantor was right; Myste had definitely issued an invitation.  
  
Because when Alberich got up the stairs and into her room, he found that Myste hadn’t bothered to put her clothes back on after half-undoing them to add verisimilitude to her role. She sat on the bed, looking a bit shy and ever so slightly appalled at her own temerity, even though he suspected strongly that she had intended this for months. He locked the door behind him and leaned against it.  
  
 _:Don’t just stand there, Weaponsmaster,:_ came the sardonic mind-voice of his Companion. _:Kiss her.:_  
  
 _:Hush, you,:_ Alberich sent back. But he did follow the well-meaning advice, and found Myste to be an enthusiastic lover, though rather unpracticed. But then, he thought, his own experience had been with those who did this for a living, so of course Myste was unpracticed by comparison.  
  
Then Alberich stopped thinking entirely, even as he felt Kantor slip out of the back of his mind for privacy’s sake, and Myste slip into it. He allowed himself to feel, and in _this_ \- the emotional side of it - _he_ was the unpracticed one. He found himself murmuring endearments and showing his appreciation in a far more open way than he was used to, and eventually they came to a shuddering end to their lovemaking.  
  
When Alberich had caught his breath, he looked into Myste’s face and saw that her eyes were sparkling with unshed tears. “Did I hurt you, my dear one?” He asked it in Karsite, unthinkingly reverting in this moment of emotion, but she shook her head.  
  
“You said I was beautiful,” Myste whispered. “I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before.”  
  
“But you are,” Alberich said simply. She looked unbelieving, and he rushed on, continuing in Karsite so he did not have to work at the words. “Look you here,” he said softly, and ran one callused hand down her side, causing a little shiver. “Your shape is not a fashionable one, but it is fit, and rounded where a woman should be.” He brushed the hand across her skin to her chin, and leaned down to kiss her. “You are a Herald, Myste. You are beautiful in your heart. And...” He smiled at her and continued, “If you _must_ have assurance of your physical self... it is well that these lenses you must wear before your eyes, so that no-one but me may see their beauty.”  
  
And then one of the tears did spill over, and Myste reached for him.


End file.
